9. Governing from Below

This chapter studies a key aspect of delegation in British politics: decentralization and local/national self-government. It deals with local government in England, and government in the devolved territories/nations of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Decentralization in British politics has formed into a complex pattern, where there are different dynamics in the various territories: relative centralization in England, power-sharing in Northern Ireland, pragmatic devolution in Wales, and then a strong push towards independence in Scotland. For a question about how centralized or decentralized British politics is, the answer would need to be based on where a person lives, with England rehearsing the conventional arguments about constitutional centralization and the rest of the country increasing decentralization, if not a form of federalism. The chapter then assesses the question of the rationale and general stability of the system, with respect to the integrity of the UK as a whole.

Genoarchitectonic Compartmentalization of the Embryonic Telencephalon: Insights From the Domestic Cat

The telencephalon develops from the alar plate of the secondary prosencephalon and is subdivided into two distinct divisions, the pallium, which derives solely from prosomere hp1, and the subpallium which derives from both hp1 and hp2 prosomeres. In this first systematic analysis of the feline telencephalon genoarchitecture, we apply the prosomeric model to compare the expression of a battery of genes, including Tbr1, Tbr2, Pax6, Mash1, Dlx2, Nkx2-1, Lhx6, Lhx7, Lhx2, and Emx1, the orthologs of which alone or in combination, demarcate molecularly distinct territories in other species. We characterize, within the pallium and the subpallium, domains and subdomains topologically equivalent to those previously described in other vertebrate species and we show that the overall genoarchitectural map of the E26/27 feline brain is highly similar to that of the E13.5/E14 mouse. In addition, using the same approach at the earlier (E22/23 and E24/25) or later (E28/29 and E34/35) stages we further analyze neurogenesis, define the timing and duration of several developmental events, and compare our data with those from similar mouse studies; our results point to a complex pattern of heterochronies and show that, compared with the mouse, developmental events in the feline telencephalon span over extended periods suggesting that cats may provide a useful animal model to study brain patterning in ontogenesis and evolution.

Dermoscopic Nevus Patterns Associated with Melanoma Patients

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The quantitative and qualitative presence of melanocytic nevi is considered a significant risk factor for melanoma. Little is known whether patients showing any of the recognized global dermoscopic nevus patterns might also be considered at increased risk for the disease. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> We aimed to investigate the frequency of global dermoscopic patterns of common nevi among melanoma patients and compare them to controls, as well as the dermoscopic patterns of atypical nevi between the groups. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We included consecutive melanoma patients and age- and sex-matched controls who presented to our Department with at least 10 melanocytic nevi. Total body examination was performed, and all nevi had their dermoscopic pattern described. Global dermoscopic patterns of nevi were compared between groups, as well as atypical nevus patterns. Finally, nevus patterns were stratified by their location and also compared between groups. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We included 120 melanoma patients and 120 controls. Melanoma patients presented a larger number of common (<i>p</i> = 0.002) and atypical melanocytic nevi (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001) and more variability of dermoscopic nevus patterns (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). No difference in the global dermatoscopic pattern of common nevi was observed between groups. The complex pattern of atypical nevi was associated with melanoma (OR = 2.87). Melanoma patients also showed more common nevi with a reticular pattern on the back (<i>p</i> = 0.014) and lower limbs (<i>p</i> = 0.041) as well as atypical nevi on the back with reticular pattern (<i>p</i> = 0.01), with reticular-homogeneous pattern (<i>p</i> = 0.001), and with reticular-globular pattern (<i>p</i> = 0.048) than controls. Nevi with multifocal pigmentation were also more frequent among melanoma patients (OR = 2.61). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Melanoma patients tend to present a higher number of common reticular nevi on the back and lower limbs, as well as atypical nevi with a complex pattern, especially reticular, reticular-homogeneous, and reticular-globular on the back.

Chemiosemiosis and Complex Patterned Signals: A Chemosemiotic Hypothesis of Language Evolution

Olfaction, as a semiotic modality, receives relatively less attention than other sensory modalities. However, chemiosemiosis and semiochemicals are fundamental components of zoosemiosis, occurring across animal taxonomic groups. Indeed, olfaction is thought to be one of the most ancient sensory modalities from an evolutionary perspective and significantly, even unicellular organisms, such as the bacterium Escherichia coli, utilize a form of chemiosemiosis when foraging for nutrients, as part of a process known as ‘chemotaxis’. Further, many taxonomic groups have evolved to produce dedicated ‘semiochemicals’ (often known as pheromones or allomones) which have the sole purpose of being diffused into the environment as a social signal. In this paper, I highlight the importance of Umwelt theory when studying animal communication, by reviewing the less conspicuous and intuitive chemiosemiotic modality, across animal taxa. I then go on to discuss chemiosemiosis within a linguistic framework and argue that complex pattern recognition underpins linguistic theory. Thus, I explore the concept that chemiosemiosis has features in common with language, when the factor of time, in the transmission and decoding of a signal, is taken into account. Moreover, I provide discursive evidence in support of a unified theory of sensory perception, based on structural and functional aspects of signal transmission and cognitive complex pattern recognition. I conclude by proposing a chemosemiotic hypothesis of language evolution.

The Shape of Fluvial Gravels: Insights from Fiji’s Sabeto River

This project aims to re-assess our understanding of the shape of fluvial bedload gravels by drawing together existing information on fluvial gravel shape. At its crux, however, is the interpretation of a large, high-quality set of measurements made on bedload gravels from the Sabeto River of western Viti Levu, Fiji. This work reveals that the apparent simplicity displayed by most studies of downstream rounding disguises a complex pattern of stepwise reversals to an angular state, the result of the splitting of cobble- and boulder-sized particles. Particle sphericity changes rapidly during the initial stages of transport. Along the Sabeto, this seems to be the result of attrition, with breakage generating the low and continuing presence of low sphericity particles in the system. Elsewhere, however, sphericity is a consequence of shape sorting and we speculate that rivers globally exist along a sorting–attrition continuum. The form of fluvial gravels is not what would be expected were sorting the dominant control on gravel form. Instead measurements of form display a complex relationship with roundness (and thus with breakage and abrasion). Fluvial gravels appear to evolve to a distinctive shape that may offer a means of distinguishing the products of riverine deposition.

Unveiling the complex pattern of intermolecular interactions responsible for the stability of the DNA duplex

Advanced electronic structure methods provide a new insight into the intermolecular interactions responsible for the intrinsic stability of the duplex structure of human DNA.

DP-internal Inversion and Negative Polarity: Latin aliquis and its Romance Descendants

I analyze the Romance descendants of Latin aliquis ‘some or other’, which are characterized by a complex pattern of variation in the contemporary Romance languages. I account for this variation in terms of diverging diachronic paths, tracing their determinants back to a process taking place between Classical and late Latin. Classical Latin only used aliquis as an epistemic indefinite, expressing ignorance about the identity of the referent. In late Latin a distributional extension is observed, and aliquis starts to be consistently found as an NPI in negative contexts. This multiplicity of uses is transmitted to medieval Romance and represents the prerequisite for contemporary variation. In their further history, some languages continue only one of the two uses. Other languages maintain both, but the meaning contrast comes to be related to a word-order difference. I analyze this difference as a syntactic DP-internal inversion operation, motivated by focus and connected to polarity sensitivity. Significantly, the diachronic path of the Romance descendants of aliquis contributes to our understanding of general mechanisms of semantic change, since it instantiates a cline of development that can be related to varying (hence, diachronically changing) constraints on quantificational domains.